Abstract
Japanese cedar wood specimens were compressed radially using saturated water vapor at 160 °C. Their shape recovery in hot water, cellulose crystallinity, and dynamic viscoelastic properties were measured. The compressed shape of the wood was fixed completely with 120 min of steam compression. In addition, the tensile strain of the elongated steam-compressed wood specimens was recovered almost completely upon immersion in hot water. The crystallinity and crystal width of cellulose in the compressed wood increased with increasing steaming duration, corresponding to the fixation of the compressed shape and the recovery of tensile strain. These results suggested that the recrystallization or co-crystallization of cellulose, i.e., the reformation of elastic members in the wood cell walls, caused shape fixation by steam compression. When a wood specimen was compressed at 25 °C, its dynamic Young’s modulus in the radial (R) direction (ER) decreased, while its mechanical loss tangent (tan δR) increased remarkably. However, upon subsequent steaming, the reduced ER began increasing and the enhanced tan δR began decreasing. These changes were explained by a hypothetical slip–cure model in which microfractures and slippage between or within microfibrils were cured by the rearrangement of cellulose under steaming.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander LE (1969) X-ray diffraction methods in polymer science. Wiley, Amsterdam, pp 423–424
Andersson S, Serimaa R, Väänänen T, Paakkari T, Jämsä S, Viitaniemi P (2005) X-ray scattering studies of thermally modified Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). Holzforsch 59:422–427
Bhuiyan MTR, Hirai N, Sobue N (2000) Changes of crystallinity in wood cellulose by heat treatment under dried and moist conditions. J Wood Sci 46:431–436
Dwianto W, Tanaka F, Inoue M, Norimoto M (1996) Crystallinity changes of wood by heat or steam treatment. Bull Wood Res Inst Kyoto Univ 83:47–49
Fang CH, Mariotti N, Cloutier A, Koubaa A, Blanchet P (2012) Densification of wood veneers by compression combined with heat and steam. Eur J Wood Prod 70:155–163
Guo J, Songa K, Salmén L, Yin Y (2015) Changes of wood cell walls in response to hygro-mechanical steam treatment. Carbohydr Polym 115:207–214
Guo J, Rennhofer H, Yin Y, Lichtenegger HC (2016) The influence of thermo-hygro-mechanical treatment on the micro- and nanoscale architecture of wood cell walls using small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering. Cellulose 23:2325–2340
Guo J, Yin J, Zhang Y, Salmén L, Yin Y (2017) Effects of thermo-hygro-mechanical (THM) treatment on the viscoelasticity of in situ lignin. Holzforschung 71(6):455–460
Hirano A, Obataya E, Adachi K (2016) Potential of moderately compressed wood as an elastic component of wooden composites. Eur J Wood Prod 74:685–691
Inagaki T, Siesler HW, Mitsui K, Tsuchikawa S (2010) Difference of the crystal structure of cellulose in wood after hydrothermal and aging degradation: a NIR spectroscopy and XRD study. Biomacromolecules 11:2300–2305
Inoue M, Norimoto M, Tanahashi M, Rowell RM (1993) Steam or heat fixation of compressed wood. Wood Fib Sci 25:224–235
Inoue M, Minato K, Norimoto M (1994) Permanent fixation of compressive deformation of wood by crosslinking. Mokuzai Gakkaishi 40:931–936
Inoue M, Sekino N, Morooka T, Rowell RM, Norimoto M (2008) Fixation of compressive deformation in wood by pre-steaming. J Trop For Sci 20(4):273–281
Ito Y, Tanahashi M, Shigematsu M, Shinoda Y, Otha C (1998a) Compressive-molding of wood by high-pressure steam-treatment: part 1. Development of compressively molded squares from thinnings. Holzforsch 52:211–216
Ito Y, Tanahashi M, Shigemitsu M, Shinoda Y (1998b) Compressive-molding of wood by high-pressure steam treatment: part 2. Mechanism of permanent fixation. Holzforschung 52:217–221
Kuribayashi T, Ogawa Y, Rochas C, Matsumoto Y, Heux L, Nishiyama Y (2016) Hydrothermal transformation of wood cellulose crystals into pseudo-orthorhombic structure by cocrystallization. ACS Macro Lett 5:730–734
Kutnar A, Kamke FA (2012) Influence of temperature and steam environment on set recovery of compressive deformation of wood. Wood Sci Technol 46:953–964
Kutnar A, Kamke FA, Sernek M (2009) Density profile and morphology of viscoelastic thermal compressed wood. Wood Sci Technol 43:57–68
Laine K, Rautkari L, Hughes M (2013) The effect of process parameters on the hardness of surface densified Scots pine solid wood. Eur J Wood Prod 71:13–16
Navi P, Girardet F (2000) Effects of thermos-hydro-mechanical treatment on the structure and properties of wood. Holzforschung 54:287–293
Obataya E, Chen S (2018) Shape recovery and anomalous swelling of steam-compressed wood by swimming ring-like expansion of cell lumina. Wood Sci Technol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-018-1018-x
Obataya E, Higashihara T (2017) Reversible and irreversible dimensional changes of heat-treated wood during alternate wetting and drying. Wood Sci Technol 51:739–749
Obataya E, Yamauchi H (2005) Compression behaviors of acetylated wood in organic liquids Part II. Drying–set and its recovery. Wood Sci Technol 39(7):546–559
Obataya E, Ono T, Norimoto M (2000) Vibrational properties of wood along the grain. J Mater Sci 35:2993–3001
Obataya E, Higashihara T, Tomita B (2002) Hygroscopicity of heat-treated wood III. Effect of steaming on the hygroscopicity of wood. Mokuzai Gakkaishi 48:348–355
Sandberg D, Haller P, Navi P (2013) Thermo-hydro and thermo-hydro-mechanical wood processing: an opportunity for future environmentally friendly wood products. Wood Mater Sci Eng 8:64–88
Segal L, Creely JJ, Martin AE, Conrad CM (1959) An empirical method for estimating the degree of crystallinity of native cellulose using the X-ray diffractometer. Text Res J 29:786–794
Tjeerdsma BF, Boonstra M, Pizzi A, Takely P, Militz H (1998) Characterization of thermally modified wood: molecular reasons for wood performance improvement. Holz Roh Werkst 56:149–153
Wikberg H, Maunu SL (2004) Characterisation of thermally modified hard- and softwoods by 13C CPMAS NMR. Carbohydr Polym 58:461–466
Yin Y, Berglund L, Salmén L (2011) Effect of steam treatment on the properties of wood cell walls. Biomacromol 12:194–202
Yin J, Yuan T, Lu Y, Song K, Li H, Zhao G, Yin Y (2017) Effect of compression combined with steam treatment on the porosity, chemical composition and cellulose crystalline structure of wood cell walls. Carbohydr Polym 155:163–172
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, S., Obataya, E. & Matsuo-Ueda, M. Shape fixation of compressed wood by steaming: a mechanism of shape fixation by rearrangement of crystalline cellulose. Wood Sci Technol 52, 1229–1241 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-018-1026-x
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-018-1026-x